Sweet and Sour Venison Stir-Fry

From: One Pot cookbook

Ingredients: 
12 oz venison steak
1 bunch of scallions
1 red bell pepper
3 1/2 oz snow peas
3 1/2 oz baby corn cobs
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1-inch piece fresh gingerroot, finely chopped
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp dry sherry
2 tsp clear honey
8 oz canned pineapple pieces, drained
1/4 cup bean sprouts
freshly cooked rice, to serve

Trim any fat from the venison and cut into thin strips. Cut the scallions into 1-inch pieces. Halve and seed the red bell pepper and cut into 1-inch pieces. Trim the snow peas and baby corn.

Heat the oil in a preheated wok or skillet over high heat. Add the venison, garlic, and gingerroot and stir-fry for 5 minutes. Add the scallions, red bell pepper, snow peas, and baby corn cobs, then stir in the soy sauce, vinegar, sherry and honey. Stir-fry for an additional 5 minutes.

Carefully stir in the pineapple pieces and bean sprouts and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes to heat through. Serve with freshly cooked rice and extra soy sauce for dipping.

Verdict:
Thumbs up! I love stir-fry and I've done a sweet and sour before that I didn't love. I really liked this one although I did vary the recipe a bit on the veggies. I used onions instead of scallions, no baby corn cobs (didn't have any at home), ginger powder instead of gingerroot, I left out the sherry, and I didn't add bean sprouts. But the sauce was so yummy and I loved the other flavors as well! I'll be making this one again.

Cowboy Baked Beans

From: Work It Mom

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
Chopped onion
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
Squirt of yellow mustard
Can of baked beans
Chopped bell pepper (optional)
Miscellaneous things from the cabinet - Worcestershire sauce, rib seasoning, seasoned salt
Bacon crumbles

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook ground beef until brown, add onion and cook, drain excess grease. Mix the remaining ingredients in a casserole dish. Add the ground beef and onions and mix well. Top with bacon crumbles. Cook for 40-50 minutes.

Verdict:
Thumbs up! This was super simple and really delicious. It was great for a large group. I'll definitely be making this again in the future. (I did leave out the bell pepper)

Pork Fried Rice

Ingredients:
1 (5 oz) boneless pork chop diced
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup finely chopped broccoli
1/2 cup frozen tiny peas thawed
1/4 cup chopped green onions
2 Tbsp butter
3 cups cooked long grain rice
2 eggs beaten
3-4 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp ginger

Saute first five ingredients in butter in skillet about 3-4 minutes. Remove from skillet and set aside.

Cook rice in skillet until heated. Push rice to sides of skillet. Pour eggs into middle and cook until set, stirring.

Stir rice into eggs, add veggies and remaining ingredients. Stir.

What I did differently from the recipe:
Normally I don't change this recipe. But for tonight, I changed several things. First of all, Stephen requested that I use our remaining filet mignon for this recipe, so I used that instead of pork chops. I sliced the steak and then made a dry rub of salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder and rubbed it all over the slices with my hands. I had frozen peas and carrots in my freezer, so I used those as well, sauteeing just the steak, peas and carrots in the beginning. I left out the broccoli because I didn't have any handy and I left out the onion because Stephen doesn't like onions to linger on his breath. I also cook the rice and then I put it in the skillet because otherwise I would be worried that it would still be crunchy at the end.

What I'll do differently next time:
Nothing except change the meat to either pork or chicken.

Verdict:
Thumbs up! This is a classic, easy, great tasting recipe. Stephen always craves the food at Japanese steakhouses so this is a really easy way to get that taste at home. You can easily throw veggies on the grill and add them to the rice - I know those steakhouses normally do onion, zucchini and mushrooms. Those items can sometimes be found marked down in the produce section at your grocery store, so you can snag them and make a vegetarian version of this recipe as well!

Printable version:

Ingredients:
1 (5 oz) boneless pork chop diced
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup finely chopped broccoli
1/2 cup frozen tiny peas thawed
1/4 cup chopped green onions
2 Tbsp butter
3 cups cooked long grain rice
2 eggs beaten
3-4 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp ginger

Saute first five ingredients in butter in skillet about 3-4 minutes. Remove from skillet and set aside. Cook rice in skillet until heated. Push rice to sides of skillet. Pour eggs into middle and cook until set, stirring. Stir rice into eggs, add veggies and remaining ingredients. Stir.

Sausage Gravy

Ingredients:
1 can buttermilk biscuits (if you aren't making biscuits separately)
12 oz. bulk pork sausage
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
3 cups milk

Heat oven to 350°F. Bake biscuits as directed on can.

Meanwhile, crumble sausage into large skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until browned and no longer pink, stirring frequently.

With wire whisk, stir in flour, salt and pepper. Gradually stir in milk. Cook until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Split warm biscuits; place on serving plates. Serve sausage mixture over warm split biscuits.

What I did differently from the recipe:
I used smoked sausage, only about 12 oz. I used more like 2/3 cups of flour and 2 cups of milk to make the consistency of gravy I wanted.

What I'll do differently next time:
Same, although I'll probably use a different type of sausage. That was just some I had in the freezer already.

Verdict:
Thumbs up! Very easy to make. Not as good as Chick Fil-A though. The best part is I had a lot left over so I froze it. The next time I have biscuits left over from dinner, I'll be able to heat this up and pour it over those biscuits! Simple!

$$:
The most expensive thing would be the sausage. I paid $0.50 for 12 oz because I got it on sale and with a coupon. I think it's normally around $3 or so though, which isn't too bad considering you can make two to three meals out of this!

Printable version:

Ingredients:
1 can buttermilk biscuits (if you aren't making biscuits separately)
12 oz. bulk pork sausage
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
3 cups milk

Heat oven to 350°F. Bake biscuits as directed on can.

Meanwhile, crumble sausage into large skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until browned and no longer pink, stirring frequently.

With wire whisk, stir in flour, salt and pepper. Gradually stir in milk. Cook until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Split warm biscuits; place on serving plates. Serve sausage mixture over warm split biscuits.